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A Citizen’s Guide to Greece 2015

Right to know

By David Wisner Several months ago one of my Greek undergraduate students wanted to do a bit of research on the incidence of ministerial amendments to Greek legislation. We asked a renowned specialist, who informed us that gove...

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So many candidates

By Dimitris Diamantis and David Wisner “So many candidates, so little time to choose,” reported one interlocutor to us in early May. How can one decide about new parties and about personalities that had until recently resid...

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This not a pipe

On the TV news a few days ago Greek journalist Pavlos Tsimas suggested that the Greek government and several other EU member states, especially Germany, were engaged in a war of words. The next day Bloomberg said what Tsimas co...

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Is the crisis over?

By David Wisner “Phew, that was tough,” is the initial impression left behind by Nick Malkoutzis in his comment in the pages of today’s Kathimerini English edition. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, now....

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Thessaloniki then and now

By David Wisner In light of the 2013 edition of the Thessaloniki naked bike ride scheduled for this Saturday, the folks at the blog “Diary of a cyclist” have assembled a collection of photos of central points in the...

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Gaming the election?

By David Wisner Researchers Robert Epstein and Ronald E. Robertson have prepared a paper in which they argue that an Internet search engine, not Google necessarily but “a future Google,” might be able to manipulat...

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Criminal matters

By David Wisner There has been a lot of talk recently, both in Greece and in the US, about criminal behavior at the highest levels of political life. In the US, one party has allegedly sought to blackmail and extort the governm...

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Whither the bourgeoisie?

I read a tongue-in-cheek article by the wags at Reform Watch Greece some weeks ago which got me thinking about one of my favorite Balzac stories, Cesar Birotteau. The middle class has been decimated, so the argument goes, the p...

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Truth or dare 2.0?

By David Wisner Ask a young person today whether they like politics. More than half the time they will respond in the negative. Why do they dislike politics? Overwhelmingly, because politicians are corrupt and dishonest. (Now d...

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The same language

By Alexia Apostolina A cloudy morning in November we woke up, dressed as warm as we could with a smile on our faces, bags with pullovers, raincoats and everything else we wanted to give to those people. Heroes. In the bus ev...

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Honest Abe

“Honesty is a virtue.” Not only in the realm of the proverbial, but also according to classical ethical theory. How often do we ascribe this virtue to contemporary politicians? Do we celebrate our national heroes, o...

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Democracy: reinvented

By David Wisner I’ve been looking for an adjective with which to describe this recent op ed article by Bill Keller in the New York Times. Curious, perhaps. It’s not quite a celebration of a certain place where democ...

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There are demonstrations and then there are demonstrations

By David Wisner I have been watching the anti-gay marriage demonstrations in France for some time now (live blog here). Were one perfectly objective, one would appreciate the degree to which a grass roots mobilization of civil ...

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Wanted: deep thinkers

By David Wisner The title of an article in the English version of Der Spiegel got me thinking about what appears to be a systemic problem throughout Europe and the eurozone. Spiegel claims that Europe needs new blood, not so mu...

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Political extremism and violence

By David Wisner Takis Michas has written about political extremism and violence in today’s Protagon. “Is there really a difference,” he asks, “between the violent tactics used or condoned by SYRIZA (riot...

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Female, Aboriginal, Educated, and Idle No More

A great story published in today’s Globe and Mail focuses on the driving forces behind Canada’s Idle No More movement. They call themselves an “indigenous rights revolution” aiming at honoring and fulfil...

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Why is the Greek crisis over?

By David Wisner The international news is awash with stories of Greece’s return to the bond market. It is fashionable again for Greece to be in the headlines. The “success story” line is ubiquitous. As Hugo Di...

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Visions of public service: Greece leads the way

By David Wisner I have been on a quest over the past several months. I am looking for a vision of active citizenship suitable for our times. I admit to suffering from a bit of unease in this quest. In fact, the relative certitu...

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Yes? No? Vote, and stay engaged

We have an expression in the US. “Vote early and often.” Lest you think I am encouraging you to commit voter fraud, I actually have something else in mind. If you vote when young you are likely to continue to want t...

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How simple it is to know who’s who

Fact checkers and vote counters are legion in the US. Here is site that prides itself for being up on the latest in IT developments. No hiding behind the anonymity of an electronic vote. At issue in this instance is an amendmen...

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